Patriotic Plaque

I saw this idea yesterday at Eighteen25 and loved it instantly!  I liked that it was numbers - most of my decor is shapes or words.

But, I decided to "use what you have and make it work"...so I used a scrap piece of wood instead of a canvas since I have plenty of wood piled up in the garage and my husband thinks I'm crazy for saving everything that's left over from his building projects - he thinks I'll never go through it all - I'll show him.  Starting with this project!

I love me some wood number/letters, but I don't love the prices - the small numbers are about $2 each...so $8 if I bought all 4...and I don't have them on hand.  But I do have glitter and craft foam.  So I cut numbers out of craft foam and applied glitter and glue! 

Another Patriotic Wreath

I know I already have an awesome 4th of July wreath, but when I saw this one, I wanted to make another one.  I can't decide if I like her buttons better than my stars, so I may end up switching them out for buttons later.  I don't have many indoor decorations for this holiday, so one of the wreaths will go inside and hang from the inside of the patio door in the living room.

The perfectionist/OCD part of me was annoyed the whole time at making this.  I wanted each wrapping of yarn to line up next to the previous one, but that wasn't going to happen since it's a circle and the inside is smaller than the outside.  So the rows on the inside had to overlap - I don't know why, but that bugged the crap out of me.  And it took about 2 hours of nap time to wrap.  I used one of the straw wreaths since they are a bit thicker compared to the styrofoam ones.  Also, with a trusty coupon from JoAnns, it was only $1.79 - cheaper than the foam ones for some reason.  I left the plastic wrapping on since it would help keep it less bumpy - not sure if you usually take it off or not...

I cut the stars out of craft foam, but they looked too bright since I didn't use white yarn, I used a cream colored yarn.  So I took out the brown ink pad and distressed the stars a bit so they would look a bit darker/worn.  I like it a lot better!

Subtle Patriotic Pillows

I wanted to make pillow covers that were fitting for the 4th of July holiday coming up, but I wasn't like most of the patriotic fabric I saw at the store - I was hoping for stars but didn't like the cartoon-ish ones I saw, so I wandered over to the home decor fabric and found a navy blue print.  And then I decided I was going to go for a subtle patriotic flare for the couch.

I used red satin for the band and bow, but I would suggest using something not so slippery - I'm adjusting the bows and fixing the way it's laying about every hour from kiddos (or my husband) playing or sitting on the couch.  I ended up making 2 of these pillows.  I have a red couch, so they look pretty on it - adding to the holiday decor.

The pillow covers are the removable type with the envelope back so that I can change them back to my every day pillow cover when the holiday is over.  For the bows, I just sewed a band to fit around the pillow, added a big rectangle for the body of the bow and then wrapped the bow center around the bow rectangle and the band.

Shabby Apple Dress Review & 10% off code

It's time for more about Shabby Apple - they sell women's and little girl's dresses at www.shabbyapple.com.  If you haven't heard of them, be sure to check them out.  They also sell accessories, but they have some of the most gorgeous dresses out there.  When I was contacted about doing a review, I was a bit nervous - I've wanted to own a Shabby Apple dress, but wasn't sure it would look good on me.  I'm still carrying some left over pregnancy weight and don't have the long, lean legs and slender figure that the models do.  I'm 4'11" and that tends to make dresses meant for women heights fit me weird.  So no matter what, I was certain that the dress wouldn't look any where near as good on me as the model in the picture.  But I decided to give it a try and picked one!

I chose the Lighthouse dress from the Set Sail! line ... by far, my favorite line of dresses at the moment.  This dress is a butter yellow color.  It's hard to tell in the pics online.  It looks more ivory online, but once I received it in the mail, it definitely has more of a butter yellow color.  I also like the Overboard dress as well.  I love the pop of red on the dress.

Besides the fact that I didn't match any of the sizes on the sizing chart, I just picked the size that seemed to meet most of my measurements and crossed my fingers.  And guess what!!  It zips up just fine!  I was so happy it fit.  And it hits me a little below the knees since I'm shorter than your average female.  But I think it looks cute on and will look even better if I stick to my new exercise regimen.  I'm so excited to wear this dress this summer.  Now if I could just grow long, lean and tan legs :)

So if you've been hesitant to get a dress from Shabby Apple because you don't have the same body type as the models, don't worry.  I gave it a shot and it worked out just fine.  So head on over and browse through their gorgeous inventory of dresses - Shabby Apple has vintage inspired dress in several different categories, and you can't help but love their collection names:  South Pacific, Up and Away, Carousel, The Berkshires (which has my favorite dress - the Cider Dress), and Oh La La, and many more.

And to help you with your shopping, Shabby Apple has offered Nap Time Craft readers a 10% off code for your shopping pleasure:  naptimecrafts10off - this coupon code expires July 7th.  So hurry up and get a new dress for the summer!

Be sure to "like" Shabby Apple on Facebook - click here!  You'll receive special promotions and keep up to date on their latest styles.

4th of July Wreath - Re-post

 Since 4th of July is coming up, I thought I would re-post my wreath from last year...

I have had a couple questions about this wreath posted in comments or emailed to me, so in case you were wondering as well...
- how many stars did I cut?  At least a couple hundred.  I didn't keep count and kept cutting more as I ran out.  It will depend on how close you attach them.
- how big were the stars?  About 2.5 inches across.

2x2 Wood Firecrackers

I found these while blog hopping and went to my wood stash and immediately marked them to cut...my husband is my designated wood cutter nowadays since I almost cut my finger off making wood clovers in March.  So I had to wait till he got home from work to finish these.

I cut my 2x2's at 4.5", 6", and 7.5" for those who want dimensions.

I used a mixture of vinyl and painting to get the details.  I used the outside of the vinly for the USA letters as a stencil and painted in the letters with blue paint on the cream firecracker since the vinyl wouldn't show up on that light of paint. 

I attached my rope differently since I didn't want the tail exposed at the top, and I wanted it to stick straight up.  So....I hammered a thin nail through the top of each block and pulled the nail out.  Then I found a long pin and threaded it through the rope piece and stuck it in the hole.  So the pin holds it upright and no exposed tail.

I made 2 sets - one for the mantle and one for the shelf by the entryway.

Father's Day Idea - Mustache Mug

I've seen a couple blogs out there that did something like this, but they just free handed the design.  I don't have that much faith in my drawing skills . . . plus, I wanted both sides of the mustache to be the same - like mirror images and I knew I would mess it up if I just painted on the mug without a stencil of sorts. 

These are for my Dad and my Father-in-law...they will be loaded up with some goodies by gift-giving time.  And I'm pretty sure they don't check my blogs, so revealing it early shouldn't spoil anything.

I used porcelain paint that I found at Michael's and a non-foam paint brush.  The rest is pretty self explanatory. 

I drew a mustache and imported it into Sure-Cuts-A-Lot and the cut it out with my Cricut.

The only issue with using vinyl is that when you peel off the vinyl when the paint is dry, it tends to peel off the paint as well.  So I had to do it slowly and use my fingernail to hold down the design at the edge when pulling at the vinyl...definately a headache step, but you could avoid that if you just free handed the design.  Once it's baked in the oven, the paint hardens and won't peel off anymore.

Newborn Hat

Here's a baby knit hat I made for my nephew on the way - he was due last week and still hasn't decided to arrive yet :).  It was really easy and fast to make - tutorial here.

I did an applique star on the front to give it more umph - and then did some "x" stitches on the sides to keep the brim folded up.

A Baby Apron - the bapron!

If you follow Craftiness is Not Optional, then you've seen her "bapron" tutorial.  I knew I wanted to make one for my sis-in-law who's due date was last week and is ready for that boy to arrive!

It's a bib, but it's sort of an apron at the same time.  It covers more of their body/clothes from spills and ... my favorite part is that it ties in the back.  My daughter pulls off her velcro ones mid-meal every day, so this would be a nice feature.

Make sure to check out the link to the tutorial so you have an idea of what it looks like on . . . it didn't really fit my 18 month old when I tried it on her, so make sure to check out the pics in the tutorial. 

Here's mine...

Pinwheel Hair Clips -- great for summer!

When I saw this idea on The Mother Huddle, it was one of those "gotta make it now" projects.  But of course, I had to put my own twist on it.

My daughter is hard on hair clips - rips them out all the time, so just using heat n bond like the example, I knew she would destroy it.  Plus, I don't have heat n bond - just iron on interfacing (which is only fusible on one side).  So I had to stitch them together, but I actually like the look better - it's a bit more polished/finished.

Here's the close up of stitching it before I cut the slits in the corners.  I did 2" squares - perfect size for a small toddler with not much hair :)

...and disregard her messy hair - she went to bed with wet hair and my husband thought it would be funny to give her a faux hawk and let it dry that way over night.  I had a heck of a time getting it to even lay this flat...and the headband is the only thing keeping that front from spiking straight up.